Teaching straight line painting and the True Presence of Jesus!

I realize this is a bit late for Corpus Christi, (I've been keeping busy.) But it's not too late to teach kids the awesome mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist!

This is a simple art project to help kids practice painting straight lines. Practice makes perfect and even young kids can learn to paint straight lines, with a little practice! But the best part of this simple art project is that it's a great reminder that Jesus is truly present in the Host at church during Mass.

All kids have different abilities, so I've added a few different paintings to show you a few different ways to create this. Choose what's best for you based upon your child's age and ability! My 8 year old could make the monstrance, but my 3, 5, and 6 year olds made the simple rays and glued on a paper cross and host.

You will need:

Stock paper or construction paper (color of your choice - We used black and white)

paint - we used: white and yellow on black paper yellow and red on white paper

First add a quarter size "glop" (that's art talk for large drop) of paint to the middle of your paper. (If you plan to create a monstrance you will need to make your rays off to one end of your paper.)

Now work the paint out in straight lines. Start at the center and go straight out from the center. Do this all the way around. ALWAYS start in the center and go straight out away form the center. This is the straight line practice.

I held my 5 year old's hand and directed her paintbrush. Then she was able to do a second painting on her own.

Now add a second color to the middle and do the same as the first.

You might want to do another "glop" of the first color again and the second color again, too. You can decide how many layers you wish to do.

If you are creating a Monstrance, add the stem and base. The stem goes straight down and the base goes straight across.

Let that dry. Once it's dry add a cross, if you like. Use brown paint to go straight down and straight across.

If your little one hasn't quite figured out how to create straight lines with paint, cut out a few strips of brown paper and create a cross shape. Now cut out a host from the printable and add your Host in the center of your cross or the center of your monstrance.

12
comments:

I love this idea. They turned out beautiful. I could even use this idea as a prayer experience with my youth group. As they make each brush stoke they can have it be a prayer petition. I hope you will consider linking this on my Our Favorite Things link party. The link is http://www.mylifesatreasure.blogspot.com/2012/06/introducing-our-favorite-things-sunday.htmlKarri

What a fun craft—with a beautiful and unique end result! When I was growing up, any craft that involved paint was a winner for me, and I think most of my children's ministry students feel the same way. So I'm sure that they're going to fall in love with this craft! Thank you so much for sharing—I can't wait to jump in and try it.

cute. I'll bet the folks at Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival would love to see stuff like this. Our host post is at http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com/2012/06/sunday-snippets-catholic-carnival_23.html

Hi Jennifer, we made monstrances in my RE class this past weekend but used chalk instead of paint. We have a short class time and sometimes paint doesn't dry well enough before the end of class. They would have liked using paint but it may have made going home a mess. I posted about it today and linked back to you. Thank you Jennifer! God bless!

DISCLAIMER: These crafts and ideas are not to be used for profit and should not be reprinted in any form without permission. They are meant for personal use by individuals, families, and RE teachers. If you post about one of our ideas, please be kind enough to link back to this blog. Do not link to our PDF files. Thank you and God Bless. †